The Angel and the Sun
by WingardiumLeviosa86
Summary: What happens when the worlds of Nico di Angelo and Will Solace collide? (Post Blood of Olympus, spoilers)
1. Chapter 1

**I just finished Blood of Olympus and I had to get this out. Trying something new! **

**-BLOOD OF OLYMPUS SPOILERS-**

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Nico let out the breath he'd been holding. Will Solace, noticing his shaking, looked over in concern. "Hey, kid. You alright?"

"Nn- yes," Nico replied. "I- I just-" He couldn't finish his sentence.

Will had a keen eye. "Everything good with Percy? I just saw you talking to him."

Nico looked away. "Yes, actually, it's great." _With Percy, not with you. _He felt like thousands of souls from the fields of Asphodel were whirling inside him. Why was Will Solace, of all people, making him nervous? Nico glanced up. Will was looking at him strangely. "What?" He realized Will had asked a question. "Oh, uh, sure," he said, not knowing what he had agreed to.

Will grinned, half a smirk, lighting up his face. He brushed his hair out of his eyes, and Nico suddenly became self-conscious. He didn't know when was the last time he had seen a mirror. "So you'll help me with the infirmary, starting now!"

Nico slowly nodded, thinking about what that meant. He would spend days _alone with Will Solace_. He unconsciously clenched his fists and began breathing faster.

"Whoa, calm down, sunshine," laughed Will. Nico gave him a death glare straight from Hades.

Over the next few days, Nico helped with mundane tasks, simple enough for anyone, but he lingered around, occasionally making awkward eye contact with Will. Tending to a patient with a wounded shoulder, Will called Nico over to help him. "Could you hold the bandage in place?" Nico took it out of Will's hand, brushing it by accident with his own. Nico froze. He dropped the bandage and stepped back. "Don't be nervous," mumbled Will. He grabbed Nico by the hand and pushed the bandage into it, curling his own fingers around Nico's fist for a moment. Nico's insides exploded. He felt jittery as if he had drunk far too much nectar, mixed with an extra-caffinated Starbucks drink.

When Will finished with the patient, Nico couldn't bear to wait any longer. "Will?" he asked hesitantly.

"Mhm?" answered the golden-haired boy. He grinned again. He seemed to do that a lot around Nico.

"I…" Nico immediately thought of everything that could go wrong. But Will.. he seemed to be different. Certainly different from Percy. But with Percy he could just tell him straight up. "Will, has there ever been someone you liked and you finally got the courage to tell them?"

He thought for a moment. "Well, I guess so. But is the great Nico di Angelo coming to _me_ for relationship advice?"

"That's what I was talking to Percy about. I like- I used to like hi- someone- I used to like Percy, okay?!" Nico's voice rose until it cracked, and he buried his face in his hands and ran out of the infirmary.

When he reached the Hades cabin, he collapsed onto the bed and clapped his hands over his eyes. A single tear pushed its way past his cupped hands and down his cheekbone. Then a barrage of salt water poured down his face, streaming from the corners of his eyes. His body became more shadowy, threatening to fade back into the Underworld.

What was an eternity for Nico, in reality was only a few minutes for Will. He stood there, confused for a second, then dashed outside after Nico. "Where'd he go?" he shouted at Percy.

"His cabin, I think, but he looked upset, man. You might want to give him time to cool off." Will, ignoring Percy's warning, continued on toward the Hades cabin. He knocked a few times with no response. Will slowly pushed open the door.

"Nico?" he called. He glanced around, and saw Nico on the bed, facing away from him. "Nico, it's alright, honestly. I know you're the same person. I don't care."

Nico slowly turned around, and Will saw the streaks down his face. He whispered, "But what if I want you to care?"

Will's eyes widened. "Nico, do you like me?" Nico opened his mouth and then closed it, swallowing. "Nico, please, tell me." The son of Hades looked like death, but he nodded, slowly.

Will immediately wrapped his arms around Nico and sat on the bed next to him, reaching his hand towards Nico's, and before Nico could tell, touching it, and they were holding hands. Will moved his mouth close to Nico's ear and whispered back, "I like you too." They sat, intertwined, for a while, before Nico's breathing went from his jagged breaths back to normal, and then they stood up, keeping their hands locked together, and walked outside, not caring who saw.

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**to be continued**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for all the favorites and reviews! I'm not sure how long I'm going to make this, but here's another part!**

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The next day, they sat together in the infirmary again, brushing hands purposefully, until Will grabbed Nico's hand again. Nico didn't protest.

"So, how are we doing this?" Will asked. There was a pause, then he went on. "I suppose it's going to be awkward any way, so I'll just go for it. Will you be my boyfriend, Nico?"

Nico coughed. He looked around the room, not at Will's face.

"Nervous, sunshine?" Will teased.

"Oh, shut it," he muttered. "Yes, okay? Yes."

"Yes to which one?" said Will slyly.

"Both," Nico clarified.

"Did I manage to make the most powerful son of one of the Big Three nervous?" Nico didn't respond, so Will took that as a yes. "I'm going to go practice archery in the shooting range, okay?"

Nico stood up. "I'll come with you," he said to Will's surprise. They walked out of the building on the cloudy day, passing a few minor gods' and goddesses' cabins before reaching the archery fields. Ten targets were set up across a line, each about fifty yards away from the edge of the field. A few Apollo demigods were already there. Will grabbed a bow for himself and tossed one to Nico. He loaded an arrow, locking his vision onto the farthest-right target, and pulled back the bowstring. He released it with a satisfying twang, and it impaled itself onto the edge of the target a moment later.

"You can do better than that!" laughed one of Will's cabin mates, Natalie. She shot her own arrow and hit the target much closer to the center.

"Don't worry." Will rolled his eyes. He shot again and hit blue. He turned to Nico. "Give it a try," he encouraged.

Nico looked uncomfortable holding the large bow. Still he nocked an arrow and pulled it back, but his shot landed several feet away from the target. Will turned to help him, but Nico pushed him away. He tried again, this time taking several seconds to carefully aim and shoot. The arrow whirred through the air and thwacked solidly into the red zone just outside the bullseye. Natalie whistled. "Wow, Solace, you've got competition!"

"Oh, shut up. That was totally a lucky shot."

Nico kept shooting, and repeatedly hit the target closer than Will had. Will tried again, but wasn't doing as well as Nico. He began to doubt himself, and started thinking that he wasn't worth anything. He couldn't believe he was doing badly. Nico suggested that they leave, but just as he did, the sun peered out from behind the clouds, lighting up Will's face like magic. Will shot his final arrow, and it struck home. The tip stuck in the bullseye so deeply Will could barely pull it out.

The conch shell sounded, and they went to dinner. Afterwards, Will walked up to Nico, and asked, "Nico?"

"Yeah?" muttered Nico.

"D'you want to go watch the fireworks outside tonight?" Nico looked slightly panicked. He didn't reply right away, so Will quickly added, "We don't have to if you don't want-"

"No! I mean, no, it's fine, I mean, I want to," Nico blurted. "Just I was supposed to be on kitchen duty tonight."

"Oh, I'm sure I can find someone else to do it," said Will, running his hand through his hair. He jumped up, saying, "I think Percy's free," as he left.

Nico immediately ran after him. "No, Will!" he shouted. Will didn't look. "Will, STOP!"

"It's no problem, Nico!" called Will back. "I don't mind asking someone else." Nico grabbed at his hair in frustration.

Will spotted Percy talking to Annabeth by a bright fire. Percy was eating a blue bagel and casually tossing pieces into the fire as he talked. "Hey, Will, what's up?" asked Percy.

"Not much, just wondering if you could swap kitchen duty with Nico tonight." Will remembered too late that Nico had liked Percy. That was what Nico had been saying.

Percy looked surprised. "Uh, yeah, sure, Nico," he mumbled. "Are you guys, like, um.."

Will reddened. The words got caught in the back of his throat. "Yeah," he managed. "Gotta go, thanks." He ran back, silently cursing himself.

"I am so sorry, Nico," were the first words out of Will's mouth when he reached Nico again.

Nico looked like he was about to raise skeletons out of the ground. "I _can't _do this, Will," he said between clenched teeth.

"I-" Will couldn't think of anything to say. Nico walked away silently.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for all the reviews/follows/favorites! A lot of people want me to update quickly, so here's part of the next chapter! The rest of the chapter should be done soon. :)**

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Will quietly sat fuming on his bunk in the Apollo cabin. He wasn't mad at Nico, he was mad at himself. How had he _already_ managed to mess things up between the two of them? He unconsciously stood up and started pacing the room, repeating _what do I do, what do I do_ in his head.

"Uh.. Will?" said a voice. Will ignored it and kept pacing.

"WILL!" the voice yelled. Will glanced over for a second and caught a glimpse of brown hair, dark eyes, a small boy, a son of Apollo. It was probably important, but he couldn't concentrate on anything but Nico. He heard footsteps fading away, and he closed his eyes and flopped onto his bed. He was just, so, _furious _didn't seem like the right word, perhaps _frustrated._

He didn't know how long he'd been lying there for, but after around half an hour he felt a shift in his mattress like someone had sat down on the other end. Soft hands uncurled his fists and pulled back his covers. A cool breath was on the back of his neck, and a whisper in his ear said, "Hello."

Will pushed himself up a few inches and flipped himself over. "Hi there, Will," said Annabeth's voice. "How are you feeling?" Will groaned. Annabeth looked confused. "Are you sick? What happened?"

"I'm not sick.." Will muttered. "I- well- someone's mad at me."

"Who is it?" asked Annabeth. Will flinched. "You don't have to tell me," she quickly revised. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Not really," answered Will gloomily.

"Do you think you could do some work in the infirmary? That's what Jake came here about. Someone's sick."

Will couldn't say no, it was his duty. "Of course." He stood up off the bed and headed for the door. "Who?"

"Oh, it's Nico di Angelo," responded Annabeth. "You know, son of Hades?"

Will's eyebrows shot up in alarm. He bolted out the door and sprinted into the infirmary, leaving Annabeth in the Apollo dorm with no idea what had happened.


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm so sorry! I haven't abandoned it, don't worry. Here's the long awaited chapter:**

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Will slammed open the door, pushing people out of the way. "Nico?" he called.

"He's over here," said a voice farther into the room urgently. Will looked up quickly. It was Chiron, the centaur director of Camp Half-Blood. Will rushed over to the bed, where a few other healers were already sitting. Something terrible must have happened, why else would Chiron be here?

"His aura is fading," said Chiron gravely. "We believe he tried to shadow-travel, but he was too worn out to take the journey."

_Oh gods, this is all my fault,_ thought Will. _If only I hadn't made him angry.._ He reached out to touch Nico's hand, and his skin was ice cold and looked blurry around the edges.

"Where would he have been trying to go?" asked a healer nervously.

Will put his head in his hands and closed his eyes, trying to put himself in Nico's place. If something had happened to him, he would probably... want to talk to one of his cabin mates? Ugh, that didn't help. Nico was the only son of Hades here. "I don't know," he muttered in anguish.

Chiron sighed heavily and began to exit. "I must go search for others to help us," he said. "I'll be back in a few minutes, find me if his state changes."

They sat in silence for a while, only talking to break the uncomfortable gloom. Will's mind raced over all the possibilities, but he couldn't think properly while he was panicking.

Pointlessly, someone reiterated, "Does anyone have any ideas?"

"All I can think is that he would want to talk to someone who understands him, like another-" Will paused. "Wait, that's it! Hazel!"

"What?"

"Nico- Pluto- daughter- sister- Hades-" Will blurted incoherently. He jumped up to get Chiron, but bumped into Annabeth as he was on his way out.

"Where are you going, Will?" she asked.

"Gotta tell Chiron- Hazel," he managed. She understood immediately and opened her mouth to say something, but she was interrupted.

"Annabeth! Will! Something's wrong!" called the healers. Nico had turned even paler and he looked as if you were looking at him through a mist.

"Nikole and Andrew, go get Chiron," Annabeth delegated. "Will, I think you're right. Let's Iris-message her."

Will looked startled. "Shouldn't we wait for Chiron?"

"No, this is an emergency. Does anyone have a drachma?" The group murmured and a small boy pulled out a golden coin from his pocket. "Thanks, can someone go get Percy?" A brown-haired girl ran off.

"Percy?" Will whispered to Annabeth, alarmed.

She explained, "For the Iris message. Is there something wrong?" Will swallowed, looking at the floor, and shook his head.

Quickly, Percy arrived, awkwardly glancing at Nico and Will. Annabeth explained the situation. Percy nodded, and turned on a sink, splitting the water into a mist that faced Annabeth. She tossed the drachma in and enunciated, "Oh Iris, Goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering. Show us Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto, at Camp Jupiter."

A few seconds later, they heard Hazel's voice saying "Sorry, I'm busy right now. Call back later?"

Will inhaled. "Is that even possible for Iris messages?" he said angrily.

Hazel came into view with the fields of Camp Jupiter behind her. "I'm kidding, guys, I'm right here. What's up, Annabeth?" She looked at everyone's faces and realized that something wasn't right. "Oh no, what happened?"

"Nico is in trouble. He failed at shadow-traveling and he won't wake up," Annabeth said. "We think he was trying to contact you."

At that moment, Nikole and Andrew returned, out of breath. "We can't find him," gasped Nikole.

Annabeth cursed in Greek. "We'll have to do this ourselves, then," she stated. "Hazel, I think you need to come here."

"How?" she wondered. "It'll take too long, won't it." Hazel hesitated. "I better try to shadow-travel."

Will jumped in. "That's how this happened to Nico, are you sure that's a good idea?"

"That's the only way I can get there," she replied grimly. "I'll be there soon."

"Have some ambrosia before you do it," suggested Annabeth worriedly. "Good luck." She swiped her hand through the mist to cut the connection.


End file.
